Special Hotel Rates for Indian Defence Officers

HotelsOn April 21, 2015153 Comments

[Disclaimer: The information given below is an attempt to simply pass the facts to the intended audience…nothing more. The author is not affiliated with any hotel or travel agency or such. The post can be made more accurate by your contribution. Therefore, any negative comments on this will simply be deleted so as to avoid an online slugfest]

Officers of the Indian defence forces viz. Army, Navy and Air Force have it tough, whether it is physical exertion, mental stress, postings at difficult locations or assignments. Till few years ago, whenever the officers travelled on temporary duty or short assignment, they stayed in shabby guestrooms (sometimes shared) or some even stayed with their acquaintances.

It was only from 2011 onwards that few hotel chains started offering concessions / discounted packages to the officers. This initiative was indeed appreciated by all officers. In the United States, almost all hotel chains and resorts offer discounted rates to serving and retired military personnel – yes even for the personnel other than officer rank.

In this post, I have listed hotels at different places in India that offer special hotel rates for Indian Defence Officers. Please note that I have included only 4 and 5-Star properties. If you are a defence officer and would like to add (or even delete) hotels, just fill in the comment form and I will keep updating the list. If you are a hotel representative and would like to add your property, you are welcome too!

The base package is of course room + breakfast. However, almost all of them offer room + breakfast + one major meal. Some go the whole hog by offering all meals, airport transfers, free wifi, ltd pieces of laundry and more. You should check and compare with the hotels before booking with them. Yes, do check with online hotel aggregators like http://trivago.in, http://tripadvisor.in etc to do a quick comparison. In most cases, you will get a better value (note I did not say, better price) with the military discount. If you are a big family requiring multiple rooms, or have a limited budget or are on a foreign vacation, hotel aggregators are the way to go.

Almost all of these hotels offer breakfast inclusive rates, some offer AP (American Plan i.e. package includes Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner) or MAP (Modified American Plan i.e. package includes Breakfast & one major meal – Lunch or Dinner). In addition, if the officer is on duty, some hotels also provide additional facilities like pick-up & drop, ironing / laundry, free wi-fi etc. You may like to check with the concerned property about the availability and rates / packages.

And yes, please do carry your military ID for your own good – the hotels have right to refuse accommodation if you don’t prove your identity.

Do you want to add / update a property if you have been to those, just let me know in the comments and I will do the needful, which implies that this list will keep changing.

Please do share it with your friends from Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

It depends on the hotel chain policies. I have confirmation from some Gateway as well as certain Vivanta (both Taj properties) that even veterans can avail this facility. This implies that all Taj hotels provide this to veterans as well.

Just called up taj vivanta goa , they are declining to offer any discounts for defence personnel and have informed me that they offer discounts only to individuals working for the ministry of external affairs .
27th February , 2.30 pm .

Hello Dushyant,
Thanks for the info. I have been trying to contact all hotel chains through the email addresses listed, however only a handful confirmed. Therefore, I have listed them, as well as those which ,y acquaintances have stayed in. I will include based on officers’ experiences…

Indeed. Kudos to the Tata group for this gesture. On the other hand, in my post I have also mentioned that as a policy all hotel chains in the US and some in West European nations provide this facility to their military personnel.

Please check if the discount is on rack/published rate. If so it is no use. The hotel aggregaters offer better discount and points that can be used towards future booking. Makemytrip and Hotels.com offers are pretty good . By virtue of my Taj membership, I had two room vouchers with 50% discount but when checked they said it is on Published rate. Same room and same time frame I found on Hotel aggregators cheaper by 15-20% below the 50% discount. Some of these hotels fool us by this so called discount. The discount should be on the rate offered by Hotel aggregators and not on published rates.

Also, please take up the case of discount by airlines. Vistara and Air Asia do not give any discount other airlines do give some discount on basic fare sometime that is 100 to 1500 rupees, not worth it. Air India/Indian Airline discount again is on published rate which after discount is still higher than Airlines aggregators (Makemytrip, Cleartrip etc)rates.

sir, when i try to book the hotel,its showing the actual price and not the subsidized ratelist. I want to book for hotel in Pune from 1 Dec to 2Dec in SUN n SAND,and its showing the actual price of that hotel. Is there any code to apply for to get the discount? Please explain

Hello,
For all these hotels, you need to contact them directly via phone or email. Once you contact them, they will revert back with an email confirmation of the same. E.g. Marriott accepts bookings through their phone (different numbers for different hotel locations ) and Taj through email as well as phone.

Guys try book a hotel online from sites like agoda TripAdvisor hotel IQ stayzilla . etc the rates most of the time rates are dirt cheap and cancellation just costs you almost nothing like agoda charges you a $ only if you cancel the booking by a date given by them which is 4-5 days before dt of occupancy or will charge for first night if cancelled after that. The bookings are confirmed be it peak or non peak seasons. Best part is you may compare prices facilities etc at a place ,most suited for faujis.

Hotel booking aggregators like agoda.com etc are the way to go for places where these facilities are not available, or if you require additional rooms, or if one has a smaller budget, and of course at places abroad. My ebook explains this aspect as well as other options like bed & breakfast, apartments etc. (Note that the ebook is for everyone I.e. the general population of India which includes faujis)

My appreciation and gratitude for this endeavour. However, I have a few queries
1. Are the dependants also extended the courtesy of discounts?
2. Are these discounts all encompassing or are these restricted to certain facilities only?
3. Is it available on leave only or on official TD also?
4. Generally how early should the booking be made and what documents are required to be presented on arrival?
Regards of the day

Thanks for the kind words.
1. When dependants accompany you, yes. Charges for extra bed and meals may be applicable.
2. The base package offered by everyone is room + breakfast. Some offer one or two more meals (lunch, dinner), while others go the whole hog offering free wifi, airport transfer, 2 pints (!) beer and Ltd laundry.
3. On official TD,most certainly yes. Most of them have offered while on leave as well. All subject to room availability.
4. Booking dates depend on the popularity of the place as well as the hotel…but don’t wait for last minute. You may be asked to prove your service identity. In addition, they will photocopy your PAN card / passport / Aadhar card or such for self and dependants. In case of kids, have never seen anyone insisting on their identity, although we carry the school ID, just in case.

My hubby is a serving officer with IAF. we hv been to agra and stayed in 2 hotels there. Yamuna view and clarks chiraz. Both offer 50% discount on accomodation and 30% on food and drinks to defense personnel nd family. There are many hotels giving ths gestures. Plz check with trident as well. And add it yo ur list.
renuka

Thank you, sir. The discounted rates vary per hotel, especially when one is on leave…Some of the hotels who I checked with, do offer discounted rates for veterans as well but in some the reservations personnel were clueless at best.

Also please add Courtyard Marriott Mumbai on andheri kurla Road. They offer bed, b’fast and one major meal to defence personnel even on leave. In fact they were gracious enough not to charge us extra for an extra bed for our kids aged 10,and 5.

All these hotels give rooms at TD entitled rates. But please remember that the rates in all these four n five star hotels are generally valid for entitlements of Lt Cols n above n equivalents. Maj n below may need to stay on twin sharing or may not get a room at all.

A very good initiative indeed…. But I have a slightly different take on the issue. There r very few hotels who are genuinely offering concessional rates/discounts. Mostly they are aware of the latest TD rates and give the same as per the rank. Eg Rs 4500 + 450 for Lt Cols and equivalent. At the cost of sounding cynical I will assert that most of these hotels are just trying to increase their occupancy. If you contact them during peak seasons they will not offer any discount but charge you the actual rate. Also, premium properties like Taj Palace Delhi etc only offer rates applicable to Brigs n above. So they are all here for profit. However, the brighter side is we can avail such rates whenever it is low occupancy time and a few offers are really good. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Indeed, they do exist for profit and would like to boost their occupancy rates. Continuing with the thought, they may like to spin this as a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)…fair enough. But then this post neither glorifies their (hotels) actions, nor implies that they have a selfish motive…it is just an information post – nothing more, nothing less. On the other hand, I even received comments on why we deserve this (or in one really negative comment why we don’t!!). I just deleted these comments, simply because I don’t intend to let some trolls hijack the blog’s true intention which is to provide facts and information to people interested in travelling. I hope I have been able to point my point of view.

Great info and my gratitude because most of us struggle to get a get hotel . I am a Retd Air Force Officer and hold Taj group Inner Circle membership . In Oct 2015 we stayed at Taj Vivanta , Goa. They do have discount for serving / Retd defence forces officers . They went a step further by upgrading our room to a suite . The service was great. I think a direct contact with front office of a hotel will be more useful.

Pls high light that most of the airlines in India are now offering a 50% discount on domestic airfares to veterans also. I was pleasantly surprised to avail this discount when I flew to Pune and back, with my wife, in June 15 by Indigo. Spouse too gets the discount.

Hi, I would like to dispell this feel good factor that these discounted rates are for defence officers only. Any govt official on duty is being offered this facility. As brought out earlier, this is all subject to availability. Generally one has to personally contact the reservation desk and the offer is quoted to you. If accepted a mail to same is also sent subsequently. With good negotiation skills all meals with WiFi and limited laundry is accepted by most hotels. In fact if spouse is travelling along with a very miniscule amount they accommodate the lady as well. I am conveying this based on my recent experiences in Delhi and Hyderabad.

Excellent efforts. I requested my brother owned travel company – The Columbus Asia , to work out single point booking for Defence Offrs, it could’nt be materialized till date, hope soon. Grateful to you for compiling the info. Any one planning Thailand/ Singapore/ HongKong, may like to check http://www.thecolumbusasia.com , let them know you’re from Army, AF, Navy for the best deal.

I travel a bit.
As an indicator I checked with Sun n Sand at Pune and Mumbai.On the inter-net their rates are around 7500/- per night. This is the “Rack Rate” which every one answering the phone quotes. When you ask for defense concession if any, the bastards say” this is the discounted rate” which means there is no further discount for you ; this rate is therefore available to any tom dick or harry who wants a room. You, sir, as a defence personnel are also subject to the same rates.
The whole thing is a fraud.
They get scared only if the bamboo is up theirs.

Action in Pathankot or in Sonam Post does not bother their pants because it is so far away. If the action gets close, like the Tata Hotel in Mumbai, then their backside fires up.
We should have charged them at the same rates as they do for us, for the action!
We will be respected only if there is action very frequently..
Keep Note. None of these guys give a genuine discount – the same discount is available ex- Make My Trip etc. Thugs.

Hi You can Add Hotel Mountview, Chandigarh (Hotel Mountview, Chandigarh is the first five star hotel of the city and has been serving its guest for last 32 years. Many clients and specifically defense personals have liking for this hotel. Most of the employees associated with this hotel are working for more than 2 decades)

We’d love to help the Indian Defence Officers by offering them the best rates possible for all their requirements. Specifically travel – We would redirect them to the best offers available for their requirement or if there’s an offline deal available , We’ll love to share it with you at 0 margin. 🙂

Vivanta by Taj Goa is not aware about any Army package. So, kindly delete. Even Park & Foerune Goa is not having any such special package. Even if somebody has got a discount, it’s due to low occupancies & not a specific army package. Therefore, kindly remove Goa from the list. I have tried myself on this. Thanks & regards.

I don’t get it. I get mails saying they do, as well as messages saying they don’t. In no case can any hotel reserve rooms exclusively for defence personnel…if there is vacancy and they are part of the memorandum, then they will honour it.

Sir, I have been moving to places on my own expence for a long time now and refrain asking for discounts after a few lessons learned mentioned below. What needs to be done is that please give a call to these hotels first as a defence personnel for single discounted room and confirm non avalibility and then from a different number as a civilian for 2 rooms at full charge. You will be amazed to see how the avalibility actually reproduces itself. I have tested it time and again. Hope its useful in chalking out the respecting ones from the profit making ones.

@ Wizard, Author : Please note to Add all Ginger hotels to the list as there is exclusive deal for all armed forces at all hotels with Room + Breakfast and 01 Major meal in select locations. http://Www.gingerhotels.com.

Thanks for sharing the valuable information. May I request author and members to post latest offers they actually received / paid from / to the hotel ( name and place). Thanks and regards. Wg Cdr Harinder Singh (Retd)

@wizard author,
Hi! Thank you for the yeoman service you are doing for the Armed Forces. Irrespective of the deals on offer, these hotels need to be complimented . I am told of a certain Hotel Ramhan, in West Patel Nagar, New Delhi, behind the metro station, which offers such discounted rates for accn. I believe the package also covers airport pick up and drop, as well as office pick up and drop to /from AHQ/NHQ/AirHQ etc. However this needs confirmation.
Thanks again, keep up the good work,
Joe, Bangalore.

Very thoughtful of you to do this Yeoman service.It will benefit lots of us.While in service and on leave We were used to book at Messes Army/Navy/Airforce or PWD or Forest guest houses or MES /paramilitary guest houses.These were affordable and mostly situated away from town.On retirement it became difficult to gain entry at all places.Thanks for the info.

Thanks for all this news. It’s indeed great that these hotels are extending such courtesy to the forces. We got to know of this but when we tried at Taj Delhi to just find out for retired officers and they told us that the special rates were only for serving officers.
Please do confirm if retired officers ARE able to receive this benefit. Of course one would call in advance before booking to know. My husband is a Brig now retired.